Tom: The primary thing we want to do today was to get some perspective from different High Speed Elite students to talk a little bit about your journey since before High Speed Elite and after, so that kind of transformation. By the way, we’re recording this and what we’re going to do is —

Antonio: And when he says “we”, Antonio is here. Hey, Mischelle!

Mischelle: I see your picture. Hey!

Antonio: Hey! I just want to make sure I’m alive. I’m listening and I’ll ask you a few questions.

Tom: So what we’re going to do is we’re going to record it. We’ll probably have it transcribed and take out some pieces from it and create these little case study pieces from different students.

I think the best place to get started is — the question I’d like to ask — and we’ll dig into this a little bit more.

Tell us a little bit about where you started before High Speed Elite and what’s happened since, kind of where you’re at now.

Mischelle: Before High Speed Elite, I was trying to build a business and was lost and I kept reaching out for different coaching programs. Actually, I was looking at a coaching program just before yours and it was a young lady in the area and she was going to coach me through building my business. We had almost signed on the dotted line. It was actually $5000, but I just didn’t feel right about it.

For some reason, something about High Speed Elite came in my box. It was John Lee Dumas and one of his people and it came in my box. And because you were military-related, I knew that I’d have the integrity factor, so that’s why I reached out and I followed his link to see what High Speed Elite was all about.

What has happened to your business since you joined High Speed Elite?

Mischelle: One of the biggest things is the community that we have. I really like the fact that we have each other to pull on for expertise. I’ve learned so much from a lot of the members, as well as the leaders of the group. One of the things is I’ve gotten clear about my message during the time I was in a group of getting clients, and not only that, I’ve learned a lot of different resources. I’ve been able to go to different sources and use those in my business.

I think I’ve gotten a few shortcuts, I guess you would say. Things that I would have had to figure out on my own, I’ve been able to figure out. It’s taken me a little longer because I’m hardheaded, but just even things that Antonio has told me that are just hitting me now I’m just understanding. Even you, Tom, some of the things that you’ve told me, I’m understanding the importance of them now, but you did have it there.

Part of being successful in any program that you’re in is you have to be ready to listen or ready to understand and I think at one point, I was so locked into my idea and what I wanted that I wasn’t ready.

Tom: Awesome! Antonio, do you have —

Antonio: I was just going to say, Mischelle, we’re very persistent, so even though — I’m not going to say you were ever hardheaded, but I will say that we are very persistent. You’ve made some huge leaps.

How have you pivoted quite a bit in the type of customer you’re going after?

Mischelle: One of the things which has helped me a lot and I’m actually pivoting even a little bit more is instead of really — I understand target audience and how important that is, but one of the main reasoning for you and me and all of us going in the business and becoming entrepreneurs is we want that freedom to be able to choose who we want to work with.

Yes, it’s important to know who’s going to pay for what we’re going to give them, but also it’s the ability to choose who we’re going to work with. And so, I have started putting that in my equation, too. I’m not going out there desperate. I fought Antonio telling me that I need to give them what they needed, but I really understand now, Antonio, that even though what you have for them is so much more and it’s going to make such a big difference in their life, if they don’t know that and they can’t see that, you do have to lead with what they feel they want.

Antonio: Can you give me an example? And you can even go a little bit in the past because I remember initially who you were going after was very general, then it became much more specific, then you started addressing their problems and how to solve them.

How did you address your problems and solved them?

Mischelle: I started out really wanting to go with women, period. I wanted to help all women and I wanted them to feel that they were beautiful. And then you and Tom started coaching me on the fact that I had to narrow it down — John, too. I remember the first hot seat with John, John Lee Dumas.

He’s really big on narrowing down to one person. And so, I did that and I narrowed my audience down to one person, but that one person, they were still general. It was a lady that was going through changes in her life, but it was still very general. And then Tom got me to narrow it down to okay, I wanted speakers, authors, women who are on the rise, businesswomen and authors.

On our conversation with Tom, Tom said, “Authors are poor. Are you sure you want to go with authors?” He said, “They don’t have the money to pay for your service.” I gave him an example of the author that I was talking about because I had just met one. Well, she was an accomplished businesswoman who had written a book and he said, “Well, that’s different.” He said, “You’re not going after an author. You’re going after businesswomen.” He said, “And because they have accomplished businesses, they are going to be writing books and they are going to be speaking on their business. That’s who you’re targeting.” And so, that helped me a lot.

And then you, Antonio, made me realize even though I wanted to deal with the psychology of my business and I realize that that is an important part — and by the way, I deal with the science and the psychology and that is what I’m talking about now, so Mr. Science Guy, I deal with that body science, too.

Antonio: I love it. I’m always getting asked, “Antonio, where’s a female version of what you do? Because I need to send my wife there and my wife loves what I’m doing with my style. She’s asking me where to go,” so hey, there’s a market, I think.

Mischelle: Yes, there is and I am finding out that — but I think they go hand in hand, but back to the story.

What I found from you is it is so important to understand their language. If I go out there and say something about you want to do your image or are you ready to make a difference in your life, it’s so general because the woman isn’t typing that. She’s typing in, “Oh my gosh, what am I going to wear to this? How do I put this outfit together? How do I know when to wear business casual to the next event?”

So I really understand how important it is through the two of you to really hone in on their keywords and what it is they’re searching for and that’s what you write your articles towards. And that’s when I started developing the system that I call The Perfectly Simple Wardrobe and it’s because I’m understanding that the woman that I deal with doesn’t have a lot of time. She doesn’t want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what she’s going to wear for the next event and she wants it to reflect who she is and be simple.

Tom: I love it. I’m curious, Mischelle. Over the course of the last 6 to 12 months, I’m curious what your take has been on from a knowledge standpoint, an educational standpoint, what you’ve taken away, what you thought of the content of High Speed Elite. Was it useful? Did you get anything from it? And if so, what were some of the highlights for you?

What are your thoughts of the content of High Speed Elite?

Mischelle: I think a lot of them like the books — I’m really bad on names. I know it has something to do with blue.

Tom: Oh, Blue Ocean Strategy?

Mischelle: Yes. I said blue and water. I knew it was blue and water. I think you had talked about Essentialism.

Those books have really made a difference for me and putting systems in place. Now, my whole wardrobe system is actually built around the lean canvas because what better thing for a perfect wardrobe to be built around is to have those different elements. And if you have those different elements — and so, I actually built The Perfectly Simple Wardrobe canvas because if you have that one-page plan in front of you — the lean canvas really helped me, the Blue Ocean Strategy, Essentialism, the systems, putting systems in place, all that really is important.

Tom: I love it, great stuff. Have you had the chance to connect with anybody inside High Speed Elite and —

Mischelle: Yes, yes, yes!

Tom: Tell us a little bit about that.

Mischelle: My buds. Okay, Mark. Mark and I still talk on a continual basis. We try to touch base with each other every month. We’re Facebook friends, of course. Dave and I are real good friends. He’s helped me tremendously. We’re always Skypeing each other. If I’m not Skypeing him, I’m hitting him on Facebook. We’re hitting each other constantly and keeping in contact.

And James, James is helping me revamp or rethink some things on my website and stuff because I am not the techie when it comes to WordPress. I’m a techie girl, but I’m not a WordPress techie, so he’s been helping me on that. Joe and I have had a few conversations and talked. Those are the people that I’ve really formulated — oh, Marianne and I still keep in contact. She’s gone off the grid, but it’s more personal stuff. We keep in contact and she will take my calls. And then Baer [0:12:16] [Phonetic] and I, we contact — she’s let me in and we’ve talked a few times.

Tom: Awesome! Antonio, if you want to jump in and ask any questions maybe related to style or anything like that, please do.

Where are you at right now with your business and where do you see it going in the next 6 to 12 months moving forward?

Mischelle: There are a couple of things that I think are real important. Right now, I’m in the process of redefining my brand. I think I want to add — and Antonio will understand this. I think I want to add a contrast color. I love orange. I will always keep orange, but I think turquoise — teal actually, teal needs to pop in there somewhere. That’s one of the things.

I’m not redefining my target audience, but I’m really honing on speaking to that one person. That is so important and I finally get it. So most of my content now is, like John said, talking — I forgot what his person’s name was, but talking to that one person.

So I’m really focusing now on — and I hated doing this because Tom, you remember when we first talked, I just wanted customers. I wanted to make money, but I’m okay because I really understand building my tribe, building a following, doing that lead generation, building my list is so important and I’m finding out the people that are really making it have a following, so that’s one of my focus.

I also understand JVs are really important and the relationships that you form with others are very important. I notice also that the people, John Lee Dumas, you, Antonio, those relationships that you have and the people that you have relationships, you talk about each other, that you — I don’t want to say push each other. You know what I’m trying to say, that you lift each other up. You share each other’s audiences and that’s what helps, too.

The last few months, I’ve really been using time on building relationships on women and other businesses, with like kind business like photographers, makeup artists, people who deal with life coaching. Those are the people who will have the same target audience or the same type audience as I will have.

Tom: I love it. Awesome. Antonio, do you have any thoughts or questions you want to ask Michelle?

Antonio: You know, I’m not going to go down the fashion or style, but I’d like to hear Mischelle – -what did you feel about the expertise? In a sense, you came in from John’s tribe, but then I happen to be in the group, somebody that’s in a similar industry.

How useful was that actually having someone that had an expertise in something that you wanted to go down that path?

Mischelle: I thought it was great because you were good for checking me, if that makes sense. When you’re so locked into your idea and you’re grandiose, “I’m going to make a difference in the world,” you were great for saying, “You need to think about this. This is what’s happening,” and you’re right there in the industry, which I love because you’re successful, so I can see from your content even more so what things are working.

I can look at the titles of your videos and see what people are searching for even though they’re male and they do search different than female. I do see the type of topics that are resonating with them, so that helped, and then just your knowledge and understanding how you’re reaching out to people. So I thought it was phenomenal because there are a lot of things I could piggy back off of, a lot of knowledge that I could gain from that. You told me the things that didn’t work for you, so I didn’t have to go down that road.

Antonio: That’s awesome. So what’s next for you, Mischelle?

What are you finding that’s actually working well for you and that you’re going to repeat?

Mischelle: I’m just really understanding the value of networking whether it’s in person or whether it’s a virtual. I really see over and over again that’s what’s building the business. I really love the community that we have here and that we’re still keeping it — we were the second group and we’re all still keeping in contact with each other and we’re always lifting each other up and we’re in the same —

Antonio: So are you telling me that at the six-month point, we didn’t just cut you guys off?

Mischelle: Not at all and I’m so surprised. I hate to say this, but I honestly — I was glad that I could still be in on the call and I was happy with that, but when you and Tom said, “Well, you can set up a call,” I’m like, really? Okay. I love that you still keep in contact with this and you allow us your valuable time because I understand you are successful.

And by the way, Tom, have you reached the six figures yet? You should have.

Tom: Yeah.

Mischelle: Yeah, because remember when you started, you were at around 90 or whatever. You hadn’t reached it.

Tom: Yup. I got [0:18:17] [Indiscernible].

Mischelle: I know people at that caliber are extremely busy and you have other things going. I remember Antonio was so forthcoming with his people, too, and helping us.

Tom: Yeah.

Antonio: I think it’s just been an approach that it’s like no man or woman left behind. We realize some people maybe need a little bit of extra help in different areas and we want to provide that, and sometimes it goes beyond the timeframe. Some people actually get — I think that they’re pretty much done with the program after just a few months. They’ve gotten the value they needed and they move on or they’ve got other areas they’re focused in when other people, they may need a little bit longer.

Tom: I’m pretty happy with this. I really appreciate it, Mischelle. Actually, no, one question I do want to ask. Do you have any piece of advice for veterans who are making the transition either leaving the military, going into a civilian sector job, or maybe looking to pave their own way with something business-related, any words or pieces of advice for that person?

Mischelle: I saw something on TV yesterday and it actually was — I hate to say this, but it was actually on Steve Harvey and he said if you’ve ever felt an urge to jump in your life, don’t live your life without jumping. And so with that, I say if you ever have a desire to be an entrepreneur or go out there and do something different with your life and you need some direction from people who have been there, know where you were and can help you move through it, I think High Speed Elite is a great thing to be a part of.